Intravitreal triamcinolone injections for CNV well tolerated in study

Intravitreal triamcinolone was generally well tolerated in the eye in a study assessing the safety of the steroid injections for choroidal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration. But because of a significant adverse event profile, close monitoring of patients by a physician was recommended by the study authors.

Mark Gillies, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the Save Sight and Eye Health Institute in Australia conducted the double-masked, placebo-controlled randomized trial, in which 75 patients were assigned to intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide (4 mg) and 75 were assigned to placebo. All participants had age-related macular degeneration with evidence of choroidal neovascularization, any part of which was classic, were at least 59 years old, and had best corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or better. IOP and cataract grading were performed every 6 months for 3 years.

No moderate or severe adverse events were reported in either group. The triamcinolone group had a significantly increased risk of developing mild or moderate elevation of IOP. Topical glaucoma medications reduced IOP to acceptable levels in all cases. Cataract progression was significant in the triamcinolone-treated eyes.

The study is published in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.